Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Faces Among the Leaves - poem

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Faces Among the Leaves

 

At first she thought it was but the rock and the bushes…

But all at once she was aware of a face among the leaves…

 

Sigrid Undset, Kristin Lavransdatter

 

There are curious faces among the leaves

Among the trees and sometimes in the trees

Along the road a little old man appears

Looking at me from the trunk of a rotting pine

 

He seems to be a little bit annoyed

But not dangerous; he’s become used to me

Tapping along with my shiny hiker’s stick

Searching the winter sky for something of truth

 

And there are bare feet dancing in the underbrush

And faces in the trees I must not see

A Ballerina Arrested for High Treason - poem

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

A Ballerina Arrested for High Treason

 

Let them dance in praise of His name

 

-Psalm 150

 

A ballerina was arrested for high treason

 

And no wonder – dance is a beautiful thing

Whether the thunderous tread of a country line

Or the ethereal flights of Russian ballet

Dance is a joy, and so must be suppressed

 

A ballerina was arrested for high treason

 

A dancer moves to mysteries of her own

On an imperial stage in Saint Petersburg

Or barefoot in a meadow among butterflies

Dance is a joy, and must be controlled

 

A ballerina was arrested for high treason

 

In the street or in a moonlit fairies’ ring

Such wild wonder – dance is a dangerous thing!

 

A ballerina was arrested for high treason

 

 

American Ballerina Ksenia Karelina Is Detained For 'high Treason' In Russia By Putin's Feared FSB Security Accused Of Raising $51 For The Ukrainian Army And Could Face 20 Years In Jail If Found Guilty - Ny Breaking News

Monday, February 19, 2024

Sunshine is Dogshine - poem

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

 

Sunshine is Dogshine

 

Be prepared. A dog is adorable and noble.

A dog is a true and loving friend. A dog

Is also a hedonist.

 

-Mary Oliver, “The Wicked Smile”

 

My little dogs pause at the kitchen door

But after tentatively testing the air

Run wild into the sunlit of a rare warm day

Leaping across the long-dead summer grass

 

They tumble and roll, and loll with their tummies up

For each little sunbeam is a doggie-kiss

To be cherished against the next arctic front

When the sleeting wind rattles the window panes

 

My little dogs scratch at the kitchen door

Sunshine is dogshine

But now they want a doggie-nosh and a nap

Lent is Not About Giving Up Things Lent is Not About Giving Up Things Lent is Not About Giving Up Things Lent is Not About Giving Up Things

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Lent is Not About Giving Up Things Lent is Not About Giving Up Things Lent is Not About Giving Up Things Lent is Not About Giving Up Things

 

All of my life I have been told

That Lent is not about giving up things

So was there a time when anyone

was told otherwise?

 

“Never Surrender” Sneakers: Collectible Bone Spurs Edition - quatrain

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

“Never Surrender” Sneakers – Collectible Bone Spurs Edition

 

Now we have lived to see a president

Hawking tatty cartoon-character shoes

Having already pawned his soul for rent

And now the bailiffs are turning the screws

Saturday, February 17, 2024

Gen X, Gen Y, Gen Z, and Boomer Tea

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Gen X, Gen Y, Gen Z, and Boomer Tea

 

How wicked to stereotype the several gens

To brew a tempest in a pot of self-pity -

The morning sun shines upon a world of friends

For we are all leaves on an Eden-tree


Friday, February 16, 2024

A Martyr is a Poem - for Alexei Navalny

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

A Martyr is a Poem

 

For Alexei Navalny

 

“Only in Russia is poetry respected; it gets people killed.”

 

-Osip Mandelstam

 

His soul was a poem; upon it he wrote

Of hope for Russia’s peoples frozen in pain

A poem of stern rebuke to Rolex tyrants

Who censored him with beatings, poison, and death

 

 

He spoke

He died

Because he spoke he died

Because he spoke the truth he died

 

They left his unfinished poem upon the ice

His soul was a poem – we must complete his verse

"LA Fires Bring Art to a Halt" - poem

  Lawrence Hall Mhall46184@aol.com Dispatches for the Colonial Office   “LA Fires Bring Art to a Halt”   Hyperallergic: Sensitiv...